EM at 40, 50 and beyond...

[medworm]

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Hi all, I'll be about 35 (probably married with kids) when I start residency and want to know, in elaborate figurative terms, what EM feels like at 40, 50, and beyond.

Please, put on your imagination caps, whip out your Oxford thesaurus, and paint a vivid picture for me. Analogies and anecdotes are worth a thousand "you're exhausted but you don't get to pee". Thanks 🙂

Also, should one quit EM after 10 years, what other business or clinical admin/mgmt job opps are there? Thanks again.

 

[8744]

Hi all, I'll be about 35 (probably married with kids) when I start residency and want to know, in elaborate figurative terms, what EM feels like at 40, 50, and beyond.

Please, put on your imagination caps, whip out your Oxford thesaurus, and paint a vivid picture for me. Analogies and anecdotes are worth a thousand "you're exhausted but you don't get to pee". Thanks 🙂

Also, should one quit EM after 10 years, what other business or clinical admin/mgmt job opps are there? Thanks again.

Dude. I'm 42 and I'm trying to match in EM this year. I have no trouble at all keeping up with younger residents. In fact, I'm probably a lot less stressed out and relaxed at most times by virtue of age, wisdom, and life experience at several jobs which are more difficult than medical school/residency.

 

[rh]

Hi all, I'll be about 35 (probably married with kids) when I start residency and want to know, in elaborate figurative terms, what EM feels like at 40, 50, and beyond.

Please, put on your imagination caps, whip out your Oxford thesaurus, and paint a vivid picture for me. Analogies and anecdotes are worth a thousand "you're exhausted but you don't get to pee". Thanks 🙂

Also, should one quit EM after 10 years, what other business or clinical admin/mgmt job opps are there? Thanks again.

Lets see working 32-36 hours a week. No call. Partnership. Making more money than my colleges in surgery, FP, IM, Peds, ect. Plenty of time off. 10-20 years closer to retirement than I am now. Still loving what I'm doing. I bet it will feel pretty damn good.

Why would someone quit EM after 10 years? Just curious

 

[DropkickMurphy]

Hitting the lottery would be one of the few things that would make me consider retiring early...even then I would still likely work part time just to keep myself busy.

 

[medworm]

Why would someone quit EM after 10 years? Just curious

I just hear about how you can't do it forever b/c it's so taxing. So I was expecting some griping (as did in other EM threads). If I match into EM, I'm not planning on quitting unless my body can't keep up.

Well, glad to see all this positive energy! 👍 Thanks all.

 

[lateness]

Dude. I'm 42 and I'm trying to match in EM this year. I have no trouble at all keeping up with younger residents. In fact, I'm probably a lot less stressed out and relaxed at most times by virtue of age, wisdom, and life experience at several jobs which are more difficult than medical school/residency.

several jobs more difficult than residency,medschool? i wonder what jobs are more difficult.. in terms of hours, and studying and stress of taking care of peoples lives..

 

[BKN]

I just hear about how you can't do it forever b/c it's so taxing. So I was expecting some griping (as did in other EM threads). If I match into EM, I'm not planning on quitting unless my body can't keep up.

Well, glad to see all this positive energy! 👍 Thanks all.

Wait a minute! How old are your respondents? How many years have they practiced EM?

I started in residency in '77, I guess that makes it 28.5 for me now. I'm 55. Most of my cohort are still practicing, but we've had to all find ways to adjust. The rate of leaving practice seems to be the same as other specialties, but the earliest graduates are just now reaching classic retirement age. There are real challenges:

1. Messing your circadian rhythm around several times a month is a significant cardiac risk. You also feel exhausted and lousy after a single night shift. it gets worse as you get older.
2. Spending most of your clinical time taking care of acutely ill or acutely psychotic or acutely drunk or acutely dead folks is a strain. There is a reason that people get a stunned look in their eyes when you tell them what you do.
3. Working scheduled but unusual hours, 3/4 of which are times when nobody else wants to, is a stress on family life and relations.

That said, most of us continue and love our work. But if you're thinking about EM for "the life style", think again it's not a life style specialty.

How to adjust as you get older? Cut back your hours, go into administration part-time, or be teaching faculty. The latter two were easily available to my generation because there was nobody senior to do it. They are less available to people graduating now and will be less available to you as the specialty matures. Get a lot of sleep. Exercise. Recreate yourself in a way that makes you happy. I hike, read and make wine.

The most important adjustment is to work less nights as you age. That can be very hard to do in a partnership where you eat what you kill and everybody is equal. It's lot easier to do in a contract relationship where hourly rates are the same and you just tell the group which shifts you are available for in the coming month.

So for your original question, "What does it feel like at 50 and beyond?" I can only answer for myself. It feels pretty good. I can look back on about 200,000 people I've tried to help. There have been about 125 EM residents and many more students and other residents who I've helped launch. Perhaps they'll carry something from me that will be part of their helping others for another 40 years. I'm not planning on quitting any time soon but when my knowledge base is to old or my thought processes slow a bit, I will. 10 more years?

 

[DropkickMurphy]

Hold out long enough for me to get through med school and into your program. Please? 👍 😀

 

[Emergency!]

Hold out long enough for me to get through med school and into your program. Please? 👍 😀

Here's a question . . . is there anybody on here who can speak knowledgeably about the differences between working at an urban, level 1 or 2 center (academic or not) vs. working at a smaller, rural setting ED? Obviously the circadian issues are going to come into play, but what else would you see. Having worked as an EMT where you go into both high volume city ED's and low volume rural ED's, I would be interested in hearing the tale of the rural ED physician. What are the significant differences?

 

[BKN]

Here's a question . . . is there anybody on here who can speak knowledgeably about the differences between working at an urban, level 1 or 2 center (academic or not) vs. working at a smaller, rural setting ED? Obviously the circadian issues are going to come into play, but what else would you see. Having worked as an EMT where you go into both high volume city ED's and low volume rural ED's, I would be interested in hearing the tale of the rural ED physician. What are the significant differences?

Actually, I can answer that one too. I used to work several rural places when in the AF. Rural EDs tend to be slower, but you see patients that are just as sick occasionally. When that happens, you're often on your own until you can transfer the patient. A farily simple rollover with two victims turns into a nightmare when your the Doc with one or two nurses, an RT and a call in xray tech. I think the rural EPs have to be even better than the urban ones.

To summarize, rural practice:

cons:
1. boring
2. money not good
3. moments of pure terror once every 3 months

pro:
1. . .cricket songs?. . .

 

[EctopicFetus]

Good insight BKN as always. My question is this, there were/are some places that dont require their partners who are over 50 to work nights, and from a few things I have read there are a lot of EM docs over 50 where do you see this going in the future?

Also as far as EM being a "lifestyle" specialty, I will say yes to everything BKN said and to add some further detail, you work weekends and holidays and birthdays and anniversaries! This is obviously a downer but the field was too great for me to pass up!

 

[mikecwru]

I had a long, thoughtful reply to this post earlier this AM, but the power went out and so did my post.

To the original poster:

A lot of people will answer you like some of the previous posters "I'm 45, just starting, full of vigor, etc" ad nauseum. These people will soon hit a brick wall. Residency, and practice, are much, much more difficult than medical school.

I tell applicants and students: "You should enter emergency medicine with the expectation that you will work nights, holidays for the rest of your life, but with the HOPE that you can somehow weasel your way out of them [somewhat]."

The problem is, a lot of places decrease their nights and give holiday preferences based on seniority. If you change jobs, you SOL.

Our program's faculty bases night shifts on AGE. The young people work 3-4, over 40 you down to 2-3, over 50 you work like 1. For faculty, they also group holidays into 3s (ie, new year's, xmas/hannukah[sic], thanksgiving). You definitely get one off, you might get to enjoy some of the second, you'll definitely be working the third.


Some groups pay a large differential to guys/gals that ONLY work nights, therefore, the other group members committments are to work those people's off days/vacations.

The idea that you're going to miss your daughter's wedding, or your anniversary is a little bit of a myth. If you're organized and you're not working with a bunch of pricks, you can fairly easy get single days/weekends off to accomodate this.

The violation on your circadian rhythm is horrendous. I've heard that it can be the equivalent of smoking a pack per day, but haven't looked up the primary research. I can certainly say it FEELS like it sucks. It's not so much that you're working nights, but that you swing back and forth between them frequently.

But then again, do I regret my choice? Not at all.

mike

Good insight BKN as always. My question is this, there were/are some places that dont require their partners who are over 50 to work nights, and from a few things I have read there are a lot of EM docs over 50 where do you see this going in the future?

Also as far as EM being a "lifestyle" specialty, I will say yes to everything BKN said and to add some further detail, you work weekends and holidays and birthdays and anniversaries! This is obviously a downer but the field was too great for me to pass up!

 

[mikecwru]

To summarize, rural practice:

cons:
1. boring

Actually, aside from other factors, this was another thing that drove my into academics. You'd see patients, yes, but in between I felt really bored in community places. Often, you'd be there with just a few other people. The academic places tend to be a little bit bigger, with other docs, many more nurses, paramedics, etc. It makes the workplace more enjoyable, at least for me.

mike

 

[EctopicFetus]

what mike said about your daughters wedding but perhaps the anniversary thing is more a function of my short term memory..I usually remember that it is coming up about 2 weeks beforehand and I am sure people would switch with me etc, but I might feel bad!

I certainly wasnt trying to imply that you are some sort of ridiculous slave or anything!

 

[8744]

several jobs more difficult than residency,medschool? i wonder what jobs are more difficult.. in terms of hours, and studying and stress of taking care of peoples lives..

United States Marine Corps infantry.
Self-employed structural engineer.

I'm not saying residency is easy because it's not. I just have a little bit of a different perspective.

 

[8744]

Duplicate: sorry.

 

[Apollyon]

Also as far as EM being a "lifestyle" specialty, I will say yes to everything BKN said and to add some further detail, you work weekends and holidays and birthdays and anniversaries! This is obviously a downer but the field was too great for me to pass up!

I was talking with a peds resident a few weeks ago, and said that I realized that, in EM, you work nights, weekends, and holidays, fine, BUT, as an IM doctor or surgeon or pediatrician, you STILL work nights, weekends, and holidays, chained to the pager, and hate it, for the rest of your days forevermore. In EM, when you're done, you're done.

As far as "community=boring", that's really dependent on where you're at. The group I'm going to has one hospital that sees ~90K, and the average is 2.0 patients/hr. Once it goes over 2.1, they add on new docs. I don't care what the volume is, the inefficiencies of academics fill in the gaps, and, if you're bored with the same people in between patients, well, you'll be bored, regardless of the patient volume - but, with higher volumes, there'll be less time in between patients. If it's 20K/year, and that's all you do, without variety, that can be boring (if that's your persona).

 

[jetproppilot]

Wait a minute! How old are your respondents? How many years have they practiced EM?

I started in residency in '77, I guess that makes it 28.5 for me now. I'm 55. Most of my cohort are still practicing, but we've had to all find ways to adjust. The rate of leaving practice seems to be the same as other specialties, but the earliest graduates are just now reaching classic retirement age. There are real challenges:

1. Messing your circadian rhythm around several times a month is a significant cardiac risk. You also feel exhausted and lousy after a single night shift. it gets worse as you get older.
2. Spending most of your clinical time taking care of acutely ill or acutely psychotic or acutely drunk or acutely dead folks is a strain. There is a reason that people get a stunned look in their eyes when you tell them what you do.
3. Working scheduled but unusual hours, 3/4 of which are times when nobody else wants to, is a stress on family life and relations.

That said, most of us continue and love our work. But if you're thinking about EM for "the life style", think again it's not a life style specialty.

How to adjust as you get older? Cut back your hours, go into administration part-time, or be teaching faculty. The latter two were easily available to my generation because there was nobody senior to do it. They are less available to people graduating now and will be less available to you as the specialty matures. Get a lot of sleep. Exercise. Recreate yourself in a way that makes you happy. I hike, read and make wine.

The most important adjustment is to work less nights as you age. That can be very hard to do in a partnership where you eat what you kill and everybody is equal. It's lot easier to do in a contract relationship where hourly rates are the same and you just tell the group which shifts you are available for in the coming month.

So for your original question, "What does it feel like at 50 and beyond?" I can only answer for myself. It feels pretty good. I can look back on about 200,000 people I've tried to help. There have been about 125 EM residents and many more students and other residents who I've helped launch. Perhaps they'll carry something from me that will be part of their helping others for another 40 years. I'm not planning on quitting any time soon but when my knowledge base is to old or my thought processes slow a bit, I will. 10 more years?

Man, what a phenomenal post!

I'm 41, been an anesthesiologist in practice for almost 10 years, and I echo everything BKN said...especially the nights stuff. They truly mess you up...

Nice post. 👍

 

[mikecwru]

I wasn't saying community was boring because it was slow. It was saying that I was bored because there were less people to interact with. It wasn't a dig on people chosing to go into community practice.

mke

I was talking with a peds resident a few weeks ago, and said that I realized that, in EM, you work nights, weekends, and holidays, fine, BUT, as an IM doctor or surgeon or pediatrician, you STILL work nights, weekends, and holidays, chained to the pager, and hate it, for the rest of your days forevermore. In EM, when you're done, you're done.

As far as "community=boring", that's really dependent on where you're at. The group I'm going to has one hospital that sees ~90K, and the average is 2.0 patients/hr. Once it goes over 2.1, they add on new docs. I don't care what the volume is, the inefficiencies of academics fill in the gaps, and, if you're bored with the same people in between patients, well, you'll be bored, regardless of the patient volume - but, with higher volumes, there'll be less time in between patients. If it's 20K/year, and that's all you do, without variety, that can be boring (if that's your persona).

 

[BKN]

I had a long, thoughtful reply to this post earlier this AM, but the power went out and so did my post.

To the original poster:

A lot of people will answer you like some of the previous posters "I'm 45, just starting, full of vigor, etc" ad nauseum. These people will soon hit a brick wall. Residency, and practice, are much, much more difficult than medical school.

I tell applicants and students: "You should enter emergency medicine with the expectation that you will work nights, holidays for the rest of your life, but with the HOPE that you can somehow weasel your way out of them [somewhat]."

The problem is, a lot of places decrease their nights and give holiday preferences based on seniority. If you change jobs, you SOL.

Our program's faculty bases night shifts on AGE. The young people work 3-4, over 40 you down to 2-3, over 50 you work like 1. For faculty, they also group holidays into 3s (ie, new year's, xmas/hannukah[sic], thanksgiving). You definitely get one off, you might get to enjoy some of the second, you'll definitely be working the third.


Some groups pay a large differential to guys/gals that ONLY work nights, therefore, the other group members committments are to work those people's off days/vacations.

The idea that you're going to miss your daughter's wedding, or your anniversary is a little bit of a myth. If you're organized and you're not working with a bunch of pricks, you can fairly easy get single days/weekends off to accomodate this.

The violation on your circadian rhythm is horrendous. I've heard that it can be the equivalent of smoking a pack per day, but haven't looked up the primary research. I can certainly say it FEELS like it sucks. It's not so much that you're working nights, but that you swing back and forth between them frequently.

But then again, do I regret my choice? Not at all.

mike

Right, what you said.

The only study I've seen of circadian rhythms that was truly long term concerned facotry workers in Sweden who were on an advancing 8 hour shift. I can't remember whether the advance was every week or month. Control was non-shift workers in the same factory. Age-adjusted cardiac risk was x2 for the first decade, x3 for the next ten and they couldn't get enough data for third decade. I suspect everybody had quit or died.

People will always offer you a lot of money to suck up the night shifts. Take care of yourselves, nobody else will.

 

[Apollyon]

I wasn't saying community was boring because it was slow. It was saying that I was bored because there were less people to interact with. It wasn't a dig on people chosing to go into community practice.

mke

But that's what I'm saying - in a big community ED, the only difference is no residents. Where I'm going, it's a level I trauma center, with an EMS base station, and lots and LOTS of people (and some IM and Ob residents rotating through). The only thing the place doesn't do is burns - up to replanting hands, this is the mecca. Everybody walks through the ED.

I know what you are referring to - the 15-20K hospital with not many services, and little traffic. Still, when I was EMS, we went to all those hospitals, and the places had pretty large staffs. Maybe I was just spoiled.

 

[mikecwru]

But that's what I'm saying - in a big community ED, the only difference is no residents. Where I'm going, it's a level I trauma center, with an EMS base station, and lots and LOTS of people (and some IM and Ob residents rotating through). The only thing the place doesn't do is burns - up to replanting hands, this is the mecca. Everybody walks through the ED.

I know what you are referring to - the 15-20K hospital with not many services, and little traffic. Still, when I was EMS, we went to all those hospitals, and the places had pretty large staffs. Maybe I was just spoiled.

Academics was a tough decision for me, because I love to teach, but I love to do hands on stuff, and I'm going to have to sacrifice that a lot. We'll see how it goes.

mike

 

[EM Junkie]

The only study I've seen of circadian rhythms that was truly long term concerned facotry workers in Sweden who were on an advancing 8 hour shift. I can't remember whether the advance was every week or month. Control was non-shift workers in the same factory. Age-adjusted cardiac risk was x2 for the first decade, x3 for the next ten and they couldn't get enough data for third decade. I suspect everybody had quit or died.

Ouch! Now that is some incentive for me to work out more. It would be very interesting to see this same type of study in the professional world - anyone have 30 years and a couple million to do this research?

 

[EctopicFetus]

I was talking with a peds resident a few weeks ago, and said that I realized that, in EM, you work nights, weekends, and holidays, fine, BUT, as an IM doctor or surgeon or pediatrician, you STILL work nights, weekends, and holidays, chained to the pager, and hate it, for the rest of your days forevermore. In EM, when you're done, you're done.

Apollyon, While this is true esp for surgeons there is a huge movement in IM and Peds for the hospitalists, as such these guys no longer take call or if they do they do it rarely. This also depends on what type of practice you are in, in the academic center where I did surgery the attendings rarely came in at night, usually only for trauma and even then in the 5 nights of call I took (including 1 saturday and 1 sunday) we only had 1 late night case. The residents took care of everything without the attending as long as they didnt have to go to the OR (I dont know if this is the case everywhere).

I think the other difference for them being on call at night is that much of the time they dont even have to come in, they just give admit orders on the phone. In EM you are seriously working for 8-12 hours overnight, and working hard where they usually dont.

I am only an m4 so I know your perspective is broader than mine due to more experience but I am wondering.. Thanks!

 

[IUfan]

I work in an ED where one of the attendings recently had a heart attack...while working a shift. 😱 Granted, he is not what I would call a perfect physical specimen, but he is only in his late 40s.

So, to answer the OP, EM at 40 and beyond may feel like chest tightness, shortness of breath, and diaphoresis. 🙂

 

[DropkickMurphy]

United States Marine Corps infantry.
Self-employed structural engineer.

I'm not saying residency is easy because it's not. I just have a little bit of a different perspective.

So you can both build things and blow them up?

 

[turtle md]

Spending most of your clinical time taking care of ... acutely dead folks is a strain.

I bet 😀

 

[8744]

So you can both build things and blow them up?

Don't get me wrong, residency is hard. It's just not very physically demanding.

 

[BKN]

Don't get me wrong, residency is hard. It's just not very physically demanding.

Possibly not now, it certainly was in the bad old days with one in 2 call. I think one in 4 call is probably not good either

 

[8744]

Possibly not now, it certainly was in the bad old days with one in 2 call. I think one in 4 call is probably not good either

It can't possibly be worse than intern year which I am doing right now.

 

[BKN]

It can't possibly be worse than intern year which I am doing right now.

Well, perhaps true if Duke is breaking the requirements. I averaged 115 hours/wk on the Surgical ED and ICU rotations. Med ED was a cakewalk at about 85-90 hrs.

ED limits today are 60 and wards are 80

 

[8744]

Well, perhaps true if Duke is breaking the requirements. I averaged 115 hours/wk on the Surgical ED and ICU rotations. Med ED was a cakewalk at about 85-90 hrs.

ED limits today are 60 and wards are 80

No, they stick pretty close to the limit. I've only gone way over a few times and it all averaged out over four weeks anyways.

 

[Jeff698]

several jobs more difficult than residency,medschool? i wonder what jobs are more difficult.. in terms of hours, and studying and stress of taking care of peoples lives..

When talking about difficult jobs, we frequently think studying for hours on end is grueling. I'll take studying all the time any day over laying asphalt in 105 degree whether. Or tarring roofs. Or getting shot at in Iraq or in Cleveland. Or commercial fishing. Or hauling trash around. Or doing the same, repetitive, mindless job year after year.

It is all about perspective. Studying and taking care of people really isn't all that hard work for me. Duh... if it felt like hard work, I probably wouldn't be doing it. For other folks, though, it would be sheer torture.

Any way, I just wanted to point that out. We should be very cautious about thinking we're the smartest or hardest working people around or, for God's sake, bitching about how little money we make. It sounds arrogant and irritates the beejeebers outta the other 99% of the country.

Take care,
Jeff

 

[mikecwru]

One of the best experiences was working at McDonald's in high school. Aside from growing up in the ghetto, getting burned with fry grease and coming home smelling like Big Mac sauce, forced me to make something of myself.

mike
[eventually, I'll make something of myself]

When talking about difficult jobs, we frequently think studying for hours on end is grueling. I'll take studying all the time any day over laying asphalt in 105 degree whether. Or tarring roofs. Or getting shot at in Iraq or in Cleveland. Or commercial fishing. Or hauling trash around. Or doing the same, repetitive, mindless job year after year.

It is all about perspective. Studying and taking care of people really isn't all that hard work for me. Duh... if it felt like hard work, I probably wouldn't be doing it. For other folks, though, it would be sheer torture.

Any way, I just wanted to point that out. We should be very cautious about thinking we're the smartest or hardest working people around or, for God's sake, bitching about how little money we make. It sounds arrogant and irritates the beejeebers outta the other 99% of the country.

Take care,
Jeff

 

[EctopicFetus]

Mike,

Same for me. I did a telemarketing job (I hate those people BTW) made good money but had a headache every day in the summer. Then I worked in a Chocolate store in HS and lab jobs throughout college.. I realized that making $4.50 per hour (25 cents above min wage at the time) sucked! I figured I better get my learn on so I dont get stuck doing some job like that for the rest of my life!

Sadly, some of my friends still work for minimum wage or less....they obviously didnt learn their lessons when they were younger like I did!

 

[Apollyon]

When talking about difficult jobs, we frequently think studying for hours on end is grueling. I'll take studying all the time any day over laying asphalt in 105 degree whether. Or tarring roofs. Or getting shot at in Iraq or in Cleveland. Or commercial fishing. Or hauling trash around. Or doing the same, repetitive, mindless job year after year.

It is all about perspective. Studying and taking care of people really isn't all that hard work for me. Duh... if it felt like hard work, I probably wouldn't be doing it. For other folks, though, it would be sheer torture.

Any way, I just wanted to point that out. We should be very cautious about thinking we're the smartest or hardest working people around or, for God's sake, bitching about how little money we make. It sounds arrogant and irritates the beejeebers outta the other 99% of the country.

Take care,
Jeff

You're right. Having thrown blacktop when it's 375 coming up and 90 degrees coming down, been at gunpoint on the ambulance, and thinking I'm "King ****" by making $25K/year (with coworkers married with kids living on the same money), I was talking with a colleague 2 days ago about how we have trouble getting by on $44K/year, and how, somehow, all the attending money will go away, too, and how we should take stock of where we're at.

Comparatively, no matter where we're at (even compared to other doctors), we don't have much room to bitch.

 

[Airzonk]

Hi all, I'll be about 35 (probably married with kids) when I start residency and want to know, in elaborate figurative terms, what EM feels like at 40, 50, and beyond.

Please, put on your imagination caps, whip out your Oxford thesaurus, and paint a vivid picture for me. Analogies and anecdotes are worth a thousand "you're exhausted but you don't get to pee". Thanks 🙂

Also, should one quit EM after 10 years, what other business or clinical admin/mgmt job opps are there? Thanks again.

I came to a abrupt conclusion one day working as a paramedic. It was about 3am and we had just lugged a 300 pound, respiratory arrest, down 3 flights of stairs. This was along with the vent, backboard, etc.., My parter was 54 on his third wife, an alcoholic, making 50,000 a year, burned out, and thoroughly hated his job. I don't know about a 50 year old EM doc but I knew I didn't want to be this guy. I quit the next day, flew to amsterdam to revaluate my life, came back went to college and will be starting medical school. It can't be as bad as that future right?

 

[EctopicFetus]

I came to a abrupt conclusion one day working as a paramedic. It was about 3am and we had just lugged a 300 pound, respiratory arrest, down 3 flights of stairs. This was along with the vent, backboard, etc.., My parter was 54 on his third wife, an alcoholic, making 50,000 a year, burned out, and thoroughly hated his job. I don't know about a 50 year old EM doc but I knew I didn't want to be this guy. I quit the next day, flew to amsterdam to revaluate my life, came back went to college and will be starting medical school. It can't be as bad as that future right?

Congrats on making the jump! 👍

 

[Hornet871]

That said, most of us continue and love our work. But if you're thinking about EM for "the life style", think again it's not a life style specialty.

Finally! A voice of reason: EM is not a lifestyle specialty. Night shifts kill you. The switch between days and nights ruins your heart. You're frequently exhausted.

It may be better than surgery in terms of lifestyle, but PM&R, rad onc, and allergy/immunology it ain't.

Thank you, BKN.

 

[medworm]

What if you aren't successful at making the switch over to academia as you get older and wiser? What other options are there ... or do you get "stuck"?